The first day of school at Aptakisic-Tripp Elementary District 102 was darkened by the news that a Meridian Middle School teacher was arrested at his Lakemoor home and charged with creating and receiving child pornography.
Lakemoor police arrested John C. Vastis, 51, in the early morning hours of Thursday, charging him with two counts of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Chicago district, Vastis coerced a then 16-year-old boy to take sexually explicit photos of himself and send them to Vastis.
According to the release, law enforcement agencies had already been investigating the now 17-year-old male for producing and receiving child pornography himself.
Authorities do not suspect Vastis of having criminal interactions with students, officials said.
On Thursday afternoon, District 102 Superintendent Theresa Dunkin said the arrest made for a distressing start to the year.
“This is my family,” she said, referring to the school community.
She said Vastis has been placed on investigatory leave; whether he will be paid during that leave will be settled by the School Board. Those discussions will be held in private, Board President Ellyn Ross said.
Vastis teaches public speaking, and has worked for the district 19 years.
Representatives of the district’s Parent Teacher Organization have not returned calls for comment.
The arrest began with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit. The federal press release states that “on Aug. 15, HSI agents and local police executed a state search warrant at the residence of a 17-year-old youth who was suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography.
“The youth, identified as ‘Minor A,’ told agents that he began communicating via Skype and text messages with an adult he identified as Pete when he was 16 years old in September 2013,” the release continues. “Agents later identified ‘Pete’ as Vastis.
“Agents then analyzed data from Minor A’s computer and cell phone and recovered more than 3,200 lines of chat messages between Minor A and Pete.”
Among those communications, there were moments on Jan. 18 and March 3 in which prosecutors say Vastis “enticed Minor A to produce pornographic images of himself and send them to Vastis.”
On July 13, Vastis allegedly received a child-pornography video, according to the release.
Federal sentencing guidelines for the charges are 15 to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography, and five to 20 years for receiving child pornography. Each charge also carries a fine of up to $250,000.
Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steve Casstevens said he did not know of any arrests by his department in the teacher’s past.